The KüL is a band on a musical journey of expression, freedom, and experience. A willingness to explore and create a sound of hope and awareness for the masses, who are blinded by a cloud of paranoia, blending soul, blues, funk, and rocknroll. The KüL has created a sound and style that is unique and all their own.The KüL bring an amazing energy to their stage performance. There can be no doubt: on Saturday July 5th, The Amsterdam Bar is the place to be!
The Voice of the KüL: Adrian Brackens aka (Johnny Lenix) is a classic throwback to 70s soul singers similar to Al Green, Sly Stone, and James Brown. With his energetic showmanship and poetic writing Johnny Lennix uses his gospel, soul, and funk roots to evoke spiritual and free emotions in the masses. Formally a member of the Grammy award winning gospel group, Gods Property featuring, Kirk Franklin, this multi-talented musician has performed across the country and overseas with the award winning group.
The Sound of the KüL: guitarist Dane Manshack, a Blues Master in the making, takes elements of the past and conjures up a spellbinding electric sound of psychedelic peace, love, sex, and happiness. This young cat harkens to the 60's with bell-bottoms and bare feet playing stoner blues and rock with a punk groove from the dirty south.
The Pulse of The Band: drummer Ross Martinez and bassist Max Townsley are both grounded in music theory, Ross is the heartbeat that drives the band to new horizons in sound, with his blending of jazz, soul, and rock drumming. The bass player is our resident genius Max, a multi-talented musician lays down the funk and gives a new meaning to the word bottom man with his unique style of play.
And now with addition of female vocalist Taylor Rea, with her sultry, soulful sound, influenced by Bonnie Rate, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and many more...makes a perfect addition to an already musical masterpiece. JAM!
Truly the KüL is a band with a sound thats all their own. With each members collective talent and desire this band is on their way to a place in rock history.
I just wanted to share a few pictures from last Monday's Bad Ass Jazz Night. These pictures really bring out why our Monday jazz scene is so special. The band sets up in the back of our small bar: there's no room for a band stand or stage, and sometimes it's hard to tell where the band ends and the audience begins.
We think that Shelley Carrol and his friends provide the single best night of jazz to be found anywhere in Dallas, Texas . . . or maybe all of Texas, for that matter. The secret? The music is kept raw and improvisational, the way jazz is meant to be. The musicians can jam, interact, and improvise.
Join us Monday nights at The Amsterdam Bar for Bad Ass Jazz Night. Get there by 9:00 PM if you want a seat.
The Lisps are a New York-based assemblage of 21st century indie-rock vaudevillians. They write songs about science and love, space and pain, babies and documents. Their performances have been known to involve bloody tambourines, wrestling, lipstick smeared melodicas, tap shoes, old kitchen cabinets and dinosaurs. The Lisps are the public/performative version of all the relationships you're struggling with.
That's a pretty fair description, but I'd like to add "high energy" and "a hell of a lot of fun to watch."
"RTB2 - one guitar, drums and tracks. great pipes on lead. some real heart-felt bluesy tunes" --from Adventures in Live MusicFrom Dallas, Texas: Jack with One Eye
"From noisy murder ballads to dynamic shoegaze, Jack With One Eye are a band you just can’t pin. As soon as you think you’ve found a comparison they pull you in the opposite direction and you’re not even trying to figure out who or what they sound like anymore you’re just in the moment.” –Fan at Gypsy Tea RoomFrom New York City: The Muggabears
The Muggabears are Travis Johnson, Emily Ambruso and Gabriel Wurzel, three friends in Brooklyn who play a structurally-mutilated brand of noise-pop featuring blissful interplay, sonic experimentation and song destruction. In 2003, Travis Johnson first recorded under the moniker The Muggabears in Norman, Oklahoma. The 2004 album, Kim Berlin, reveled in colorful guitar textures, off-kilter hooks, and diamond-sharp energy. Moving to New York from Dallas in the winter of 2005, he immediately drafted Emily Ambruso and Kevin Murphy, two other Southern transplants, on bass and drums, respectively.From New York City: Famous Amos
"Famous Amos touch down in your town soon, like a funnel cloud, an unbridled dervish chewing its way across the landscape. Really, just check us out when we're in town and tell me that shit ain't true." --from their website, March 2008The music starts at 9:00 PM. While there is no cover for this show, you must be 21 and show ID to attend this event. No one under 21 will be admitted under any circumstances.
Q: Before you started writing these songs, did you have any interest in performing?I love a woman who can work the word "douche-y" into a sentence when describing her music.
A: I was a theater major in college, and one of my favorite teachers was my music performance teacher. That really taught me good vocal technique and all that stuff. It also got me thinking about songwriting from a musical theater perspective. And I mean that in the least douche-y way possible. There are these great songs and different styles of writing all over theater.
Laura Palmer performing at The Amsterdam Bar, March 11, 2008
In front, we're packed with a great Saturday night crowd.
Out back, the Melodica music festival rolls on. Tonight was night one: there's still one more night of action here at the Amsterdam Bar tomorrow night. There's a chill in the air, so the crowd hovered around our giant chimeneas to keep warm and discuss the slate of live bands.
Cry Blood Apache began as a guerrilla band, setting up in local parking lots, alleys, or wherever their stripped-down electronic setup could accommodate. They play in clubs now, though the aliases remain. Formed in 2005, CBA’s lineup has been as hard to pin down as their sound, though several influences are apparent – Cabaret Voltaire, Suicide, Metal Urbaine, the Sisters of Mercy. Singer/guitarist Kaspar Glass monotones lyrics like an anti-Gary Numan; guitarist Hans Hinrich sprays feedback from axe; drum machinist Seth Nemec keeps the industrial beat. Original bassist Endal Passou was replaced in 2006 by percussionist Pahn Zhram, who beat on a trash can in addition to playing bass. 2005’s Performing Diversion Acrobatics was a scattershot introduction to the group's sound. More indicative would be 2007's Industry Mix Tape Vol. 1 (Ghetto Pagoda). They’ve recently added Maxx Hole on keys and continue to experiment with their sound, adding to the lineage of electro-minded bands in Austin.[1]You can check out their Myspace page for band info and tracks.
"It works brilliantly, the whole thing sounding like you're caught in the middle of a knife fight between Sonic Youth and some whiskey-addled bluesman. Seven-minute opener 'Front Porch' is the perfect battle cry, speed-thrill drums struggling to keep up once the guitars are unleashed. Elsewhere we get sprawling instrumental passages and blistering howls of pity. It's here we learn that jetscreamer really have got the blues. And they don't come much dirtier than this." NME - 7 out of 10You can read a lot more and hear several sample tracks at Jetscreamer's Myspace page.
Recording songs that combined a 1960's psychedelic nostalgia with ironic and literate lyrics, The Happy Bullets began when indie songwriters Jason Roberts and Tim Ruble met while working together at an art gallery in a suburb of Dallas. After a home recording demo was released and played on local radio, Roberts quickly recruited his wife, Andrea to learn bass guitar while lending vocal support to several of the bands more pop-oriented songs. Additional members were later added including Josh McKibben of The Sons of Sound, Rhett Jones, and Kris Youmans of The Paper Chase.We look forward to having The Happy Bullets on our stage for Melodica 2008.
2004 saw the release of The Happy Bullets first record, Blue Skies and Umbrellas and was quickly followed up in 2005 with The Vice and Virtue Ministry, engineered by Stuart Sikes (Modest Mouse, Cat Power, the Promise Ring) and released on the upstart Dallas indie label Undeniable Records. The latter gained the band critical acclaim on the national college radio circuit and led to shared bills with Mates of State, Architecture in Helsinki, and Of Montreal.
In 2006, The Happy Bullets toured throughout the United States performing in Austin, Texas at the SXSW Music Festival, Athens, Georgia at the 2006 Athens Popfest, and at CMJ Music Festival in New York City.[1]
Just wanted to let everyone know that passes to the Melodica Festival will be going on sale this weekend at Good Records and all Melodica venues (Sloppyworld, Fallout, etc.) $25 gets you access to every show (including the Sunday all ages show), and if you want one, I'd suggest buying it soon because as of right now, only 300 passes are available. Each venue will also allow you to pay a seperate cover for individual shows (ranging from $5-10), but the passes honestly seem like a much better deal if you're planning on seeing more than one show.That sounds like good advice to us.
Record HopOn Saturday, February 23, 2008:
Happy Bullets
Jetscreamer
History at our Disposal
Jack with one Eye
We Shot JR Night:We are especially excited to be serving as the venue for We Shot JR Night. These guys know the Dallas music scene and we know they'll be bringing a great show to The Amsterdam Bar.
Finally Punk
Cry Blood Apache
Medio Mutante
Yellow Fever
Treewave
Zanzibar Snails
